Recent Trend in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Dae Hyun Yoo

doi:10.4055/jkoa.2010.45.6.419

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Yoo: Recent Trend in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Review Article

Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association

Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association 2010; 45(6): 419-425.

Published online: 24 December 2010

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4055/jkoa.2010.45.6.419

Recent Trend in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Dae Hyun Yoo, M.D., Ph.D.

Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Seoul, Korea.

Correspondence to: Dae Hyun Yoo, M.D., Ph.D. Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, 17, Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 133-792, Korea. TEL: +82-2-2290-9202, FAX: +82-2-2298-8231, dhyoo@hanyang.ac.kr

Received 7 May 2010 Accepted 11 August 2010

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and destructive inflammatory disease resulting in disability. During the past 10 years, developments in medical science have improved RA treatment significantly, but have not proven curative. The most important developments over the past 10 years are the followings: 1) an emergence of new therapeutic agent against a specific single molecule or target, including biologic and chemical agents, 2) development and clinical usage of various outcome measures to detect disease activity more accurately and 3) introduction of new strategies in the treatment such as early and aggressive combination trials, depending on the disease activity. Over the course of these activities, we have been able to control clinical symptoms and signs more effectively, and slow the destruction of the joint, and finally improve the quality of life in RA patients. Here, we discuss the recent development of RA treatment and a perspective on future development.

Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, treatment, biologic agent, outcome measure, disease activity, early arthritis, remission

Figures and Tables

Figure 1

Therapeutic approaches based on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Table 1

Therapeutic Approaches Based on Pathogenesis

Table 2

Biologic Agents in the Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

IL, Interleukin; CTLA-4, Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Antigen-4; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; TNF-α RII-Ig, tumor necrosis factor-α receptor II-Immunoglobulin.

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